Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Fizzes quite heavily on the pour, leaving a rather flat looking brew, deep golden in colour, with a lot of weight to the body and a lot of haze. Really looks disappointingly flat when held to critical appraisal, but the colour looks fine and the heft is appropriate; it looks chewy enough, but still flows smoothly.

Nose is deep and slightly sweet, with more heft and more booze than I expected. In some senses, it gets this slightly sweet-acidic orange note, which reminds me of an IPA, but the thickness and sweetness suggests something more like a dessert wine. There's certainly minimal crispness, which I'd like to see in an pilsener, even an imperial one.

Taste taste has a little more bitterness, but again, lacks crispness. Instead, the big body gives it a slick, gooey sweetness that only subsides when the onrush of boozy heat comes through on the back. This, in its way, is a type of crispness, in that it startles the palate in to wakefulness, but it's still not ideal.

I'll admit I've still never found an Imperial Pilsener that matches up with what I think the style should be like, and unfortunately, this follows the trend. I'd love more crispness, more directness, and sharper, brighter palate, but still bursting with enormous flavours

Pours a hazy light orange with a 1 inch white-orange head that fades to a small cap. Random spotting and splotches of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smells of toasted malt, grassy notes, and herbal hops. Taste is of toasted malt, bread, and grassy/herbal hops. There is also a definite alcohol flavor with this beer. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly thick and sticky mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer and the first of the style I have had. However, I am not too sure I would get this one again. (548 characters)

Appearance: Pours a clear golden color with a respectable head; the retention wasn't great but the lacing was above average

Smell: Biscuity malt with a vaguely grassy hops

Taste: Biscuity malt, up front, with an understated grassy hop flavor developing by mid-palate; rather malty on the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation

Overall: I have never been thrilled by the Imperial Pilsner style, more because I dislike the malt character of so many of them; in this case, I really like the malts but the hops aren't up to the task; still, it is easy to drink (577 characters)

Picked up on a recent trip to San Diego. Pours a nice golden-amber color, with a fairly substantial rocky white head. Good bready/biscuity aromas, with a just a hint of hops. Solid pilsner character on the palate, creamy, with a subtle alcoholic punch near the end. Good. (271 characters)

A: Pours a perfectly clear golden, capped by a frothy two finger off-white head. Retention is moderate and it leaves some light lacing in its wake.

S: Bready base with some light funk, balanced by floral, earthy hops and some light spice notes. Lemon zest floats around in the background.

T: Very sweet up front with a bready characteristic, transitions into moderate floral bitterness with a biting earthiness. Some peppery and lemon zest notes swirl around near the finish, yielding a sweet and spicy after taste.

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation, feels creamy as it glides across the tongue.

D: The ABV is rather well hidden and it goes down way too easily. Not one of the best imperial pilsners I've had, but there are no major flaws and it's good to see Karl Strauss taking some risks with their bottled offerings. (833 characters)

fresh bottle from Texas Liquor (in Carsblad, Cal.) Very easy to drink hoppy beer. An understated bitterness that was most pleasant during a long luncheon. Mild hoppy aromas. Some citrus, medium mouthfeel, and one-quarter inch of retained head on cloudy lightly orange body. Satisfying, not heavy, sure not a double IPA and cannot be held up to that sort of hop assault. (369 characters)

Nice golden amber in the glass. Drinks very smoothly with nice subtle carbonation and a solid feel in the mouth. Aroma is "different" without the common blast of hops. A flowery rather than resiny hop. Malty without particular sweetness. Overall winey character with the nicely bitter twang of a very well balanced beer.

The slightly roasted hop flavor is extremely pleasant to me. Doesn't have the hyped-up malt liquor taste of some Imperial Pilseners. Score one for Strauss on this one. (537 characters)

Lacing has pretty damn amazing, an art form from this beer I say! Fresh baskets of biscuits in my nose, alcohol sure ... but very clean. Smooth and a bit creamy with a slick mouth feel. Toasty toast ... graininess is clean but has a heavy footprint here. Maltiness is thick with a big and clean biscuity tone, hops ring in with some balance as does the alcohol. Clean throughout. Finishes with more malt than expected but loving it. A sippin pils, very tasty.

There seem to be more and more brewers entering the market with an imperial pilsner. If it's good, keep it going. From a 22 ounce bottle, on to the beer:

Dark golden color with a thick creamy head on the pour. The head drops little by little but stays around leaving some creamy lacing on the glass It smells like a pilsner, which is good, but the aroma is much weaker than anticipated. Whispering grassy and pilsner malt crawl out and greet the nose. Not bad at all, I just expected more.

It tastes just like a multiplied pilsner. While I admire the huge punch of hops I get in Double IPA's, a punch of extra malt and grass, bigger but controlled, is a somewhat refreshing change of pace from the more popular imperial styles. The big sweetness from the malt sticks out, leading to a smack of honey on white bread. Grassy and floral notes attempt to level out the malt, as does a big dripping kiss of freash hop leaf. Alcohol is buried, and the creamy smooth texture of this full bodied beer make a happy mouthfeel.

I've wrote off Karl Strauss beers in the past (beers with little character), but a recent change in the bottle lineup has got all these new, big flavored beers on the market, and after trying this and Big Barrel Double IPA, I'm rethinking how I view Karl Strauss. (1,284 characters)

Missed the release night at Small Bar but had it on tap at their brunch on Father's Day.

A: Poured a deep golden color into a nonic pint glass. Head doesn't stick around long.

S: Upfront there are some grassy saaz hops, lots of toasted malt, and decent amount of the crisp slightly sulfury lager yeast character. I wish there was a little more hop aroma but it's definitely more prevalent than say their Woodie Gold.

T: Chewy toasted malts flavor upfront with a very noticeably herbal and grassy hop bitterness. Not as dry as I would have hoped for but definitely crisp and refreshing. Very similar to what an amped up Pilsner Urquell or Budeweis would taste like. The toasted malts and grassy hops also linger in the finish.

M: Medium bodied, very refreshing, but could stand to be a little crisper and dryer in the finish.

D: I enjoyed this beer quite a bit. Not a lot you can do to dry out an imperial pilsner but the flavors were definitely on. Reminded me of some of the pilsners I've had in central Europe. I wasn't 100% sold but definitely enjoyed this beer more than a few other Imp Pils that I've tried. Worth a shot, especially as the weather heats up. (1,171 characters)

Pours a slightly hazy deep golden color with a white head that leaves decent lacing.

Smells of crisp and mildly sweet pilsner malts with good amounts of sticky citrus and light herbal hops.

Tastes very similar to how it smells. Smooth pilsner malts up front are joined quickly by moderate amounts of citrus and herbal hops. Midway through slightly grassy hop flavors come into play, fading out into a moderately bitter ending. Mouthfeel is good, with solid carbonation.

Overall this is a good benchmark for the style, not good and not bad and worth a shot. (602 characters)

A&S - Pours a gorgeous sunburst gold with a foamy off white head. Not much aroma getting through the pilsner malt, some floral notes as well as some herbal hops. Very floral like a beachside garden.

T&M - Spectacularly smooth. Goes down super easy. Nice fresh malt character with some honey and fermented alcohol, a earthy hop bitterness, with a finish as crisp as potato chips. Great yeast character in this as well, absolutely welcoming, no off notes at all.

O - An amazing beer! Liked this more than I originally thought I would. I had this in my fridge for quite a while and now wish I would have drank it sooner, as we all do with unknowingly amazing brews. Super excited to find this randomly while shopping at certain markets. Although availability here in SoCal should be a little better for this, considering I live 2 or 3 counties away, look for it at your bottle shop. Its a must for SDagans. (905 characters)

This is an Imperial Czech style pilsner. It has a pale golden hue and a nice head retention. The aromas I picked up were grassy and floral with a slight hint of toasted malt. Slight hope character, however, not too prominent. Body:medium, standard... Finishs crisp and dry. A bti of lingering booziness due to the high alcohol content. Overall, a good beer; and in my opinion a nice step outside of the traditional box. (419 characters)

This is absolutely wonderful and to date the best Karl Strauss beer I have had. It is a great example of why I love this so-called style even if to me "American Imperial Pilsner" really seems to be another unnecessary, nitpicking division of styles into increasingly specific, hard-to-differentiate categories. In any case, I love Maibocks, too, and some of each style really seem to me to be just as at homein the other cartegory.

Imperial Pils? First time I've had this beer style.Pours to a light orange with a white foam head. At first sip you can taste the higher hops than with other pilsners. Taste is somewhat grassy with a hoppy yet not overpowering finish. Foam dissapears quickly but the aftertaste on this beer is not that bitter and makes your pallate desire another sip. At 7.5% and with a 22 oz bottle it might still be considered a session beer that one can enjoy when looking for a beer to stick with and not have it overpower you. (517 characters)

Appearance: Tried the Whistler Imperial Pils on tap at Small Bar during rollout pint night Thursday night. This just looked good. Poured a dark golden color with a 1" frothy head that dissipated rather quickly.